Tempa in Festa

A community festival in the heart of the Vallo di Diano

Tempa in Festa is one of the most cherished events of the summer in the Municipality of San Rufo, a small town of just over 1,700 inhabitants nestled at an altitude of over 600 meters in the Province of Salerno, Campania. The village is located at a crossroads between the Vallo di Diano and the Cilento region, within the boundaries of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park, with terraced chestnut groves and the peaks of the Alburni Mountains as a backdrop. It is here, in the Tempa area, that the lights of a festival built entirely by local volunteers turn on every mid-August.

The Tempa, the Madonna, and the tarantella

The name of the event refers to the Tempa, the small hill outside the town center where the diocesan sanctuary of the Madonna della Tempa stands, the heart of San Rufo's devotion. Local tradition is anything but static: during the Marian festivities, the faithful carry decorated wax votive offerings in procession and dance the tarantella to the sound of accordions—a ritual that weaves together popular faith, music, and dance. Tempa in Festa was born from this same cultural soil and extends its spirit into the height of summer, when the village is repopulated by emigrants and visitors.

The festival cuisine

The hallmark of the event is its food. The food stalls, managed by the association's members, offer traditional peasant dishes from the Vallo di Diano, prepared according to authentic home recipes. A small specialty of the festival is the fresh broccoli: the organizers cultivate the plants specifically for months so they can be served in August, well outside their natural season. Other local flavors revolve around this symbolic product, from handmade pasta to cheeses and cured meats from local farms.

• Typical San Rufo dishes cooked by the association's volunteers
• The famous broccoli grown specifically for the August festival
• Dairy products and cured meats from Vallo di Diano producers
• Table service at the stalls for all three nights

Folk music and memory

Each evening is accompanied by a live band: folk and tarantella groups that keep the square dancing until late at night. The event also hosts the Angelo Muraro Memorial, which reaches its ninth edition in 2026, a moment of remembrance that links the festival to the history of the village's families. The Tempa in Festa APS Association, chaired by Giuseppe Mario Muraro, complements the summer event with ongoing cultural transmission work, including workshops like Cente, Cunti e Canti dedicated to children and teenagers to teach the construction of votive offerings and traditional songs.

Why visit

Those who come to San Rufo for Tempa in Festa will not find an event built for mass tourism, but an authentic village festival where you can eat well at popular prices and dance alongside the residents. It is also an excellent base for discovering the area: the early medieval Castello di Calvanello, the ancient water mills along the streams, the trails of the Alta Via degli Alburni and Mount Cervati, and nearby, the Certosa di Padula, a UNESCO World Heritage site. A concrete way to understand how, in this part of inland Campania, tradition, cuisine, and community are still one and the same.